‘A bad workman blames his tools.’

Yes, we've all been there. When canvassing for a spanking new tool or a gadget/device that claims the incredible – that it can somehow enhance our pitiful talents– we simply can’t escape that persistent little phrase. I like my little toys, but boy do I have to fight to lay my paws on them.
The main argument seems to be that modern marketing has made it impossible to stop wanting. Each product has a sub-product of a sub-product, which means that whatever your vocation, profession or pastime, there is a reason for you to pay for the best in the business.

It’s got so bad now that we can’t tolerate anything, well, less. Leave alone technical products - Bread and butter? No, I think I’ll have whole-wheat brown rice slice toasted with some hydrogenated vegetable oil substitute. Gluten free, of course, which reminds me – I need to get that tested.

It’s not wrong to want your life a little orderly and shipshape. If you can’t tolerate it, you shouldn't have to bear with it. There should be options, but the problem really arises when those options beget common sense and/or necessity. I have seen brash football-playing friends toting Samsung Note 2’s in a brand new Adidas bag, which they leave on the sidewalk to topple at the slightest nudge of their Nike T90’s. If you’re wondering, I played barefoot and left my rugged old Nokia at home for my brother to play Snake on.

Excess is a sin. That we’re well aware of, and the sensible ones among us avoid it.

What most of us don’t understand is that in the midst of all this extravagance, it’s important to really create a need for things that you really can make use of.
The modern manufacturer isn't stupid. While they know they can successfully fob us off with redundancy and decadence if they dress it up right, they have to deliver. The modern market is best played in the mid-range, and this is full of a dizzying array of sensibly priced (relatively at the very least), genuinely usable and very relevant merchandise to both present and future life.

Smartphones are like that. As is all other gadget wizardry and to sum up, pretty much every corner of the mid-range market.

Good products help us work better. The very key to creating one is to pare down, keep the essentials intact and avoid frills and distractions. That’s why the mid-range really works – the top is essentially the same thing laced with extras we don’t really need or need to be made to want.

And let’s face it; we've all seen enough of cost-cutting in our times to know what the difference is between a truly resource-economical product and one that’s just plain cheap.

Intelligent buying is the key to productivity – and you should never, ever have to justify it when you have reason enough. Now if you’ll excuse me, there’s this rather marvellous steampunk chrome pocket-watch-thing I've been tracking on eBay for a while. Someday…